5 ms·

The most likely reason is that Telegram is too convenient and too useful. Every agency in the government has an official account. The president’s spokesman use

The most likely reason is that Telegram is too convenient and too useful. Every agency in the government has an official account. The president’s spokesman uses it to communicate with members of the media. Most recently it was successfully used to disseminate guidance on COVID-19.

mschuster91 6y ago
> Most recently it was successfully used to disseminate guidance on COVID-19. Or propaganda, given the (credible) accusations against Russia on misinformation campaigns. edit: I'm referring to the fact that Telegram is the most popular service for German conspiracy myth spreaders (e.g. former stars Attila Hildmann and Xavier Naidoo), especially in regard to the COVID19 crisis. Unfortunately I'm unaware of decent English articles, but here's a good German starter: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/netzwelt/messengerdienst-telegram-wo-die-verschwoerungstheorien-spriessen,S0HDUq1 https://www.br.de/nachrichten/netzwelt/messengerdienst-teleg...
- bigdict 6y ago
  Here’s the Moscow channel if you want to judge the content for yourself: https://t.me/COVID2019_official https://t.me/COVID2019_official
  - jmartrican 6y ago
    I love the logo of the knight on the horse stabbing the dog sized covid virus.
    - sb057 6y ago
      Based on the story and icon of St. George. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S.George_(Novgorod,_mid._14_c,_GTG).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S.George_(Novgorod,_...
    - aasasd 6y ago
      It's a riff on Moscow's coat of arms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Moscow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Moscow
- luckylion 6y ago
  That's exactly why you want to use something like Telegram if you're in the West: it's not controlled by a Western government. I don't care much for the conspiracy nuts, but their ability to communicate with each other would surely have been terminated had they used WhatsApp. It's fine to use WhatsApp to praise Obama, Merkel or anything else that is widely accepted in your society etc, but it's a terrible choice if you're on the shit list of the government.
  - mschuster91 6y ago
    You can do whatever you want using Whatsapp (it has a proven solid e2e encryption), the key difference to Telegram is it requires a phone number to use which instantly reveals your real identity to any snoop, snitch or government mole. If it were that easy to influence Whatsapp, India would not have a real problem with Whatsapp-mobilized lynching mobs.
    - eitland 6y ago
      > it has a proven solid e2e encryption Correct. It then goes on to - by default at least - upload everyones messages unencrypted to Google Cloud. > the key difference to Telegram is it requires a phone number to use which instantly reveals your real identity to any snoop, snitch or government mole. I usually defend Telegram but here I think you are wrong. Telegram also requires a phone number to sign up.
      - mirimir 6y ago
        Session (Signal fork) doesn't require any information. It's end-to-end encrypted by default, and it connects via an onion routing network (LokiNet). And so only LokiNet nodes see the IP address that you connect through. But of course, you connect to them through VPNs or nested VPN chains.
        aspenmayer 6y ago
        Links for the curious: https://getsession.org https://getsession.org https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.04609.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.04609.pdf https://github.com/Loki-project https://github.com/Loki-project Seems to somehow be associated with the working group for Loki cryptocurrency, but not using blockchain to store messages or message contents, per FAQ. https://docs.loki.network/LokiServices/Messenger/Session/ https://docs.loki.network/LokiServices/Messenger/Session/ https://docs.loki.network/Mining/MiningOverview/ https://docs.loki.network/Mining/MiningOverview/ https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stak https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stak
- m0zg 6y ago
  > Or propaganda Says a Westerner whose entire ration of "news" also consists of propaganda.

mschuster91 6y ago

> Most recently it was successfully used to disseminate guidance on COVID-19. Or propaganda, given the (credible) accusations against Russia on misinformation campaigns. edit: I'm referring to the fact that Telegram is the most popular service for German conspiracy myth spreaders (e.g. former stars Attila Hildmann and Xavier Naidoo), especially in regard to the COVID19 crisis. Unfortunately I'm unaware of decent English articles, but here's a good German starter: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/netzwelt/messengerdienst-telegram-wo-die-verschwoerungstheorien-spriessen,S0HDUq1 https://www.br.de/nachrichten/netzwelt/messengerdienst-teleg...

bigdict 6y ago
Here’s the Moscow channel if you want to judge the content for yourself: https://t.me/COVID2019_official https://t.me/COVID2019_official
- jmartrican 6y ago
  I love the logo of the knight on the horse stabbing the dog sized covid virus.
  - sb057 6y ago
    Based on the story and icon of St. George. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S.George_(Novgorod,_mid._14_c,_GTG).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S.George_(Novgorod,_...
  - aasasd 6y ago
    It's a riff on Moscow's coat of arms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Moscow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Moscow
luckylion 6y ago
That's exactly why you want to use something like Telegram if you're in the West: it's not controlled by a Western government. I don't care much for the conspiracy nuts, but their ability to communicate with each other would surely have been terminated had they used WhatsApp. It's fine to use WhatsApp to praise Obama, Merkel or anything else that is widely accepted in your society etc, but it's a terrible choice if you're on the shit list of the government.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  You can do whatever you want using Whatsapp (it has a proven solid e2e encryption), the key difference to Telegram is it requires a phone number to use which instantly reveals your real identity to any snoop, snitch or government mole. If it were that easy to influence Whatsapp, India would not have a real problem with Whatsapp-mobilized lynching mobs.
  - eitland 6y ago
    > it has a proven solid e2e encryption Correct. It then goes on to - by default at least - upload everyones messages unencrypted to Google Cloud. > the key difference to Telegram is it requires a phone number to use which instantly reveals your real identity to any snoop, snitch or government mole. I usually defend Telegram but here I think you are wrong. Telegram also requires a phone number to sign up.
    - mirimir 6y ago
      Session (Signal fork) doesn't require any information. It's end-to-end encrypted by default, and it connects via an onion routing network (LokiNet). And so only LokiNet nodes see the IP address that you connect through. But of course, you connect to them through VPNs or nested VPN chains.
      - aspenmayer 6y ago
        Links for the curious: https://getsession.org https://getsession.org https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.04609.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.04609.pdf https://github.com/Loki-project https://github.com/Loki-project Seems to somehow be associated with the working group for Loki cryptocurrency, but not using blockchain to store messages or message contents, per FAQ. https://docs.loki.network/LokiServices/Messenger/Session/ https://docs.loki.network/LokiServices/Messenger/Session/ https://docs.loki.network/Mining/MiningOverview/ https://docs.loki.network/Mining/MiningOverview/ https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stak https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stak
m0zg 6y ago
> Or propaganda Says a Westerner whose entire ration of "news" also consists of propaganda.